Garfie 8/16/18 pmps 230 +1 236, +2 188, +3 190, +4 157

Condo:http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/garfie-bloodwork-have-question.201168/
Amps won't be home gave .10 shoot instead of skipping. Gave extra food. Has protein build up in kidneys so adding extra water on food. Gonna pick up pro biotic today

 

Nice AMPS.

 

AMPS!

 

Sorry to just get back to you on the labs. I had a few things come up yesterday/last night and didn’t have a chance to get back on the board.

You asked me this question in yesterday’s condo regarding probiotics:

Side effects of probiotics? I’ve never seen any except if people give high doses of Saccharomyces boulardi which can cause diarrhea. That would not be the one you’d want to use anyway. You’re just looking for a good quality, human, maintenance probiotic. I do not know what you mean by “eliminate the proteins in his kidneys”. His serum protein levels are fine. You haven’t posted any urine values. Do you have any that show he has protein in his urine or has proteinuria? If a vet has told you to feed a CKD a low protein diet, that is very old school. While at very advanced stages of CKD, we don’t want to feed massive amounts of protein, current research indicates that CKD cats generally need good quality protein (about 35-40% of calories from protein is good).

He’s at the early stages of CKD so at this point, you want to be feeding foods that are lower in P. We look for levels that are less than 200 mgP/100 kcal or less than 1.00%P on a dry matter basis. If you look at the “New to the Group” Sticky, there are food charts linked for low P, low carb diets.

Regarding the hematocrit, anything below 30% is considered anemia but treating it aggressively does not usually occur until it gets below 20%. The reason CKD cats are prone to anemia is because the kidneys produce the hormone erythropoietin which causes the bone marrow to make red blood cells. Kidneys need B vitamins to make erythropoietin. CKD cats pee a lot and excrete a lot of the B vitamins. Therefore, you can usually slow down the process towards anemia and avoid using the heavy guns when it goes below 20% by giving methylcobalamin (B12) and multi B vitamins orally. Here is an excellent discussion on the B vitamins needed and dosing. I’ve had three cats with CKD and one with PKD (which is a different monster but presents as CKD) and with the three that just had CKD, I was able to keep their hematocrit up around 28%. None of those three passed from CKD and were stable with it for a very long time.

One thing you might consider discussing with the vet and starting him on is calcitriol (scroll down on the page till you see it). It used to be that calcitriol was used when a CKD cat was diagnosed with secondary hyperparathyroidism (which is not the same as hyperthyroidism). It was given daily at a fairly high dose and blood chemistries had to be monitored closely. Now, the trend is changing and, because this condition is quite common in CKD cats, calcitriol is often given at a small dose, twice a week, or even pulse dosed to prevent the condition and also to help the kitty feel better, in general. While calcitriol given daily at higher doses can potentially increase Ca levels, given twice a week at a low dose does not seem to have an effect on the Ca levels. If your vet is not up on this new trend, you might have a hard time convincing him/her. The link I gave you above has a good discussion and gives links to studies that might help you discuss this better with the vets.

 

All the vet said was everything is in normal range except his kidneys have proteins. I need to get him to drink more to flush him out and put him on azodyl. I didn't fill that. I went and got renew life like it was suggested here. It's regular strength then on box it says 2 billion it says do not crush or chew but these are big I'm afraid he would choke. And on empty stomach. Oh boy this will be fun he's not good for pills well maybe if he learns pill then treat . So now I have to figure out how much to give him. Any suggestions

 

If it were me, I’d call the vet and ask what he/she means by “his kidneys have proteins” because that makes absolutely no sense. I would also ask what test tells him/her that. Also, you cannot flush the kidneys by giving more fluids. That’s not the purpose of giving fluids. Giving fluids orally or subq is to help with dehydration. You aren’t flushing out toxins if that’s what your vet is thinking.

I posted on yesterday’s condo regarding the probiotic but I would not crush, chew, or cut in half. I’d be sure you aren’t giving something flavored. And I give my healthy cats 15b/day. So 2b is not going to make it through a cat’s tummy acid to do him any good. I’m sorry. I should have let you know you needed something much higher. If you can’t take it back, you can take them and get him something else. Again, it doesn’t have to be Renew Life but you are looking for a good quality probiotic and you can give him 20-30b a day.

 

So confused I'm going to vets tomorrow

 

Sorry to confuse you. I think sometimes vets know what they are saying but they either don’t explain it correctly but they say it so hurriedly that we think we heard them say something but they said something a little different. I’d write down your questions and write down the vet’s answers and then we can help you a little better.

 

Ok will do thanks for that advice

 

You’re welcome.